– Boston, MA-based software company, In Force Technology, LLC has joined forces with Confier, CO-based crisis response and post-crisis reunification, I love you guys foundation, to provide best practices for notifying first responders of an active threat, communicating during the event and providing the building under threat with the response and reunification protocols they need to successfully mitigate risk. Both companies have a presence in schools nationally and the official partnership strengthens the collective mission of keeping those in our schools as safe as possible.
ABOUT IN FORCE TECHNOLOGY LLC School safety has always been the mission with our leading-edge application, IN FORCE911. The device agnostic software is the company’s flagship application, enabling an alert to reach all internal staff and responding agencies in less than 4 seconds, and in addition provides a two-way communication window where staff and faculty inside a school can provide one another and police officers responding to an active threat with mission critical details. When seconds matter most, reducing response time and increasing communication is the goal of FORCE911.
Traditionally placed 9-1-1 calls can take an average of two to four minutes to be routed from the centralized public safety answering point (PSAP) to the local, responding agency lengthening the time for first responders to get on scene. The second underlying problem at-risk facilities face is the inability to effectively communicate to one another from inside the same building and unable to collectively provide specific details of an active threat to law enforcement, causing additional time delays and leading to confusion when law enforcement arrives on scene. The IN FORCE911 software application empowers school faculty, staff and administrators with the ability to launch an alert from any device in seconds, (rather than minutes). As an alternative to the time delay, IN FORCE911 sends alerts and messages directly to the dispatch consoles, in-vehicle terminals and mobile devices of police officers in the field simultaneously and regardless of duty status. First responders also have immediate access to the digital building schematics, aerial photos and emergency operational plans and internet protocol (IP) based camera feeds from the school integrated through the IN FORCE911 application.
The communication window enables everyone experiencing the threat to share information as well; description of the assailant, location of the threat and other critical, pertinent and real-time information. As a result, members of the organization are prompted to take actions in coordination with pre-existing training, protocols, and procedures in the interest of best protecting themselves and those nearby for survivability.
Emergency response and reunification procedures will be designed by the I Love You Guys Foundation and integrated into the IN FORCE911 application. A uniform, planned, and practiced response to any incident is the foundation of a safe school. I Love You Guys has created the SRP (standard response protocol) as an action-based, flexible, and easy to learn process that rationally organizes tactics for response to weather events, fires, accidents, intruders and other threats to student safety. Hold, Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate, Shelter are the five actions followed by a directive and executing any or all actions are to be performed by active participants, including students, staff, teachers and first responders. This aligns everyone for a swift and coordinated response. The standard reunification method (SRM), is a critical aspect of incident response where accountability and maintaining the chain of custody for every student is imperative. The SRM provides school and district safety teams with proven methods for planning, practicing and achieving a successful reunification during what are often chaotic, anxiety-filled scenes and having a predetermined, practiced reunification method will help defuse emotions at the site.
